1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to flavoring additives of grain cereal products. More specifically, this invention relates to flavoring additives formed into distinct particles or bits for use in complete over-the-counter hot cereal mixes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Home-cooked grain products, such as warm breakfast cereals, have traditionally been flavored at home by the preparer of the meal with the use of common condiments and flavorings. For example, the flavor of oatmeal, cream of rice products, and cream of wheat is most frequently enhanced by the addition of flavorings including cinnamon, fruit particles, or other additives and sweeteners, either during or just after the cooking of the cereal. In recent times, consumers have found ready-mixed, easily-prepared breakfast cereals desirable. The convenience of a ready-mixed breakfast cereal is enhanced by having all the ingredients necessary to prepare it mixed together within the packet or box supplied by the manufacturer, including the flavorings and sweeteners.
Manufacturers have provided flavorings for dry ready-to-eat cereals for years. These cereals are not cooked by the consumer and come prepared with flavorings and sweeteners ready-mixed into the product or applied to the surface of the cereal product. Those cereals, which have the flavorings ready-mixed in them, are generally flaked products in which sugar and other ingredients are incorporated into the dough mixture prior to the puffing or flaking of the final product. The resulting dough mass has the flavoring ingredients within its matrix upon puffing or baking. Products in which the flavorings are applied to the cereal surfaces are generally products upon which sugar and other flavorings have been sprayed after the cereal particles have been puffed or flaked. Generally, this results in a glaze or frosting on the individual cereal particles.
A methhod, which has proven unsatisfactory in the past for flavoring either a hot or a cold cereal, is one in which the flavoring is added as a separate and distinct particle with the contents of the cereal. The mixing of a granulated flavoring into a package containing a cereal does not provide the consumer with a properly flavored product. Vibrations occuring during shipping and handling of the product, cause segregation or layering to occur between the cereal particles and the flavoring particles, because of their different particle sizes. When this occurs the cereal particles poured by the consumer from the top of the package are separated from the flavoring particles which migrate and settle at the bottom of the package.
Equally undesirable is the addition of a separate packet containing the flavorings in the larger package containing the cereal. Manufacturing problems are increased with separate packaging because additional apparatuses are required to pour the flavorings into a packet and then place that packet into the larger cereal package before the cereal particles are added. Consumer acceptance is also poor with packaging of this kind. Separate packaging of the flavoring ingredients still requires the consumer to measure and mix them into the cereal during cooking.
Other difficulties also prevent the mixing of flavoring particles into home prepared hot cereals. For example, the flavoring particles must be compatible with the cereal particle during both storage and cooking. During cooking, the flavoring particles must melt at the cooking temperatures of the cereal product. Mixing of the ingredients used to make the flavoring particles into the cereal must not adversely affect the texture of the final cooked cereal product and must mix rapidly with the cooked cereal particles. Another difficulty is flavor loss which can occur through volatilization of the essential flavorings during storage of the product. Usually, flavor loss is presented or reduced through the use of special, more expensive packaging. Also, if the flavoring particles tend to accumulate at the bottom of the package, excess moisture can cause the flavoring particles to lump into a solid mass.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,544,332 to Leebens typifies the methods in which flavorings are added to cereal particles. In this case, a dry ready-to-eat cereal is obtained in which powdered additives are incorporated into the cereal flakes. The cereal dough is puffed or extruded at a specified moisture content into pieces. These pieces are then coated with a powdered additive such as sugar or dehydrated fruit. The powdered additive covers the surface and voids of the puffed pieces and then the puffed pieces are flaked. This process entraps the additive at or near the surface of the flakes. In this particular disclosure, the resulting cereal product is not intended to be cooked. Methods as disclosed in this reference are not suitable for incorporating flavorings into cereals intended for home cooking. Home cooked cereals cannot be made from puffed or extruded pieces because the integrity of the flakes is completely lost upon cooking. Such flakes break down or lose their particle integrity from the heat and mixing action that occurs during cooking of the cereal.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,840,685 to Lyall et al. discloses a method for applying sugar as a sweetener in a coating applied to cereal particles. The coating consists of a quantity of edible fats or oils with a quantity of an emulsifier and an aqueous sugar solution. The syrup of these ingredients has a specifically identified water content. The edible fat or oil with the emulsifier is added to the aqueous sugar syrup at a temperature of from 115.degree. F. to 155.degree. F. This is mixed and heated to 180.degree. F. This mixture is applied to the cereal particles as a coating and then dried. This method eliminates the steps of applying oil and then sugar separately to the cereal particles. This method is not readily adaptable to home-prepared, hot cereals. The cereal particles in this reference are larger than those normally found in home-prepared, hot cereals. The use of this method to flavor the thin, light weight flakes of a home cooked, hot cereal causes clumping of the flakes and disrupts their particle integrity.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,941,893 and 3,950,551 both to Glabe et al. disclose a process and product of a composite sugar syrup agglomeration. These two processes involve the formation of dried flakes or ground flakes obtained from drying a thin film of aqueous syrups of numerous sugars or sugar containing products. The flakes in the first reference are formed in the presence of ungelatinized starch which is partially gelatinized in situ and/or in the presence of a soy protein. The flakes are agglomerated by adding a spray of water in small amounts to the flakes while tumbling them to form agglomerates. Drying occurs with continued tumbling until the agglomerates are no longer sticky. Further drying is completed on a tray or conveyor. The second reference, instead of forming agglomerates, produces an extrudable mixture. The agglomerates resulting from these processes are for consumption on ice cream or for use in baking and not for use in cooked grain cereals. The agglomerates of these processes are primarily concerned with delivering a particulate sweetening ingredient that retains its integrity upon contact with a food of a higher moisture content.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,016,790 to Cole discloses an agglomeration of cereal particles, which are double coated with fat and then a dilute syrup. The resulting product is a granola type mix. The method used to derive the product of this disclosure is primarily concerned with the mechanical operation of producing a cereal admixture. The final product is a combination of cereal, sweeteners, and flavorings, but is not intended to be used as a cooked cereal.
It is an object of this invention to produce agglomerated flavor bits which are used to sweeten and flavor grain cereals cooked by the consumer. It is also an object of this invention to provide a complete over the counter package of cereal in which cereal particles and flavorings particles remain evenly dispersed even after shipping and storage. The formula according to this invention achieves these objectives without adversely affecting the texture or other qualities of the grain cereal itself.